From 2040, the United Kingdom will prohibit the sale of new vehicles fitted with combustion engines, hybrids included, and from 2050 it will ban older diesel and petrol cars from the roads.
From 2040, no vehicle fitted with a combustion engine will be permitted for sale in the United Kingdom. This, at least, is the plan of a government working on a resolution to ban the registration of diesel and petrol cars. The measure has been made necessary by the deteriorating air quality and the need to protect citizens' health. It is a stance that comes as no great surprise, given that similar measures are under consideration in France, Germany and India.
The British decision stems from the observation that nitrogen oxides and, more broadly, the most dangerous air pollutants are rising slowly but steadily despite increasingly stringent emissions regulations. This is a phenomenon that affects citizens' health and which, according to estimates from the bodies responsible for monitoring public health in England, costs the state £2.7 billion in lost productivity. So far, the draft put forward by Conservative minister Michael Gove has not received the welcome it had hoped for, but Tory backing should allow the measure to gain weight and visibility. The measure, moreover, not only bans the sale from 2040 of new cars fitted with internal combustion engines, including hybrid models, but also provides for a ban on the use of all non-zero-emission vehicles from 2050. That is to say, electric or hydrogen vehicles.
The ban being studied in England comes as no surprise, given that the British government, particularly since Brexit, has outlined an investment programme aimed at moving beyond current transport and energy production systems. In future, the United Kingdom will indeed boost its exploitation of wind, solar and geothermal resources, setting aside petroleum derivatives. It is an ambitious project, especially considering that, after Germany, the United Kingdom is precisely the country in the Old Continent with the largest market for diesel cars. The commercial trend, however, appears to be helping Albion's plans, as diesel car sales are already falling globally. In the first half of 2017, the market recorded a 10 per cent drop in diesel registrations in favour of petrol cars, but above all of hybrid or electric vehicles, whose sales figures indicate growth of 30 per cent compared to the same period in 2016.
Beyond the market, the political world also appears to support the British plan. Particularly significant is the position expressed by Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, who is entirely in favour of the measure, and by Oliver Wittke, transport expert for the CDU, the party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "We need to get rid of the combustion engine in the short term," the German MP declared, adding that "Germany, on environmental matters, cannot fall behind other European countries." An even more unequivocal stance was taken by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who went so far as to describe the Conservative government's initiative as "timid", reiterating the need to act immediately rather than waiting until 2040. Industry takes a different view, calling for more time to adapt. In this regard, the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders), the association representing companies in the sector in the United Kingdom, fears a weakening of the industry and is calling for public support.
What would have been dismissed as a summer talking point just ten years ago is today a concrete policy direction. Because it is backed at a political level, including at the European level, because it is shared by other far-from-marginal countries, and because the market itself, albeit slowly, is looking towards moving beyond fossil fuels. Regardless of statements from the British SMMT, car manufacturers are not unprepared. By 2020/2025, all the major players in the automotive world — including the giant Toyota — will have a full range of electric vehicles available. The evolution is under way.